1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automotive headlamp, and more particularly to an automotive headlamp having a light-emitting module including a control circuit unit for controlling the lighting of a light source.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a known technology for utilizing light-emitting elements, such as LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes), as the light source of an automotive headlamp. In such a technology as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-32661, a light source apparatus is proposed in which at least one of the electrical coupling means coupling the light-emitting elements with the mounting substrate is so disposed as to pass across an area in the irradiation direction as seen from the light-emitting elements.
Recent years have seen the emergence of various applications that require complex lighting control for automotive headlamps. In such applications, a control circuit for controlling the lighting of the light-emitting elements is provided independently of the mounting substrate to which the light-emitting elements are directly mounted as in the case described above. However, there are growing demands for the space occupied by the automotive headlamps to be smaller because of the limited space within a vehicle. Thus, the location of this control circuit is an extremely important consideration from the viewpoint of reduction in the space occupied by the automotive headlamps.